In the last 10 days, the media space has been awash with trending stories and pictures of over 50 indigenes of Benue, in Kwande Local Government who were massacred by Armed Herdsmen terrorising the area.
The marauding herders with cattle numbering over 300 hundred are said to have taken over the whole of Nyiev-ya (Mbakyor Ward, Turan) in Kwande LGA, Benue State, covering a distance of not less than 100km.
Turan is the ancestral home of the Tiv nation with Jato-Aka in Kwande LGA of Benue State as her headquarters.
The Herders are already said to have destroyed villages, markets such as Ayuluba in Ityuluv Nyiev-ya, farm produce, houses and many others worth billions of naira.
In an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari titled; “Terror Attacks on Farming Communities, Including Women and Children in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.” which a copy was made available to Saturday INDEPENDENT, the community leaders called on the President to send security operatives to man their borders and chase the perpetrators causing this homicide away from their communities.
A letter which was co-signed by the trio of Comrade Festus Iorkyaa, President-Turan Development Association (TUDA), Eric Tyohemba Udu and Solomon Terfa Jijah on behalf of members of the organization reads in part, “We write to report recent, sustained terror attacks on our communities over the past ten (10) days which have resulted in over fifty (50) people dead, several injured, thousands displaced and loss of property and farmlands.
“This latest spate of attacks started on the 2nd of February in Ityuragh, Mbaikyor ward in Turan Kwande LGA. These attacks have since spread to Abande, Ityon, Kendev-ya, Anwase, Yaaiwa, and other localities an area spanning over 100km2.
“Eyewitnesses report that the attackers came in with cattle, numbering over three hundred (300) and are armed with highly sophisticated weapons, terrorizing the people of the area and killing unarmed civilians, women and children while destroying homes, food stores and farmlands.